The relatively large heterogeneity, especially at the intrabone level, is possibly the consequence of microstructural bone differences. The dissimilarities observed between our investigation and other published studies are probably due to the fact that the samples used here came from human rather than faunal bones. Also, our samples were buried previously to the experimental burning so this may also partly explain our contrasting results, since previous research was mostly performed on fresh bone. Future inferences based on vibrational spectroscopy analyses should take into account the possible effect of all these sources.

In view of the difficulties in extracting quantitative information from burned bone, we suggest a new and accurate method of determining the temperature and duration of burning of human remains in forensic contexts. Application of the powder X-ray diffraction approach to a sample of human bone and teeth allowed their microstructural behavior, as a function of temperature (200-1000°C) and duration of burning (0, 18, 36, and 60 min), to be predicted. The experimental results from the 57 human bone sections and 12 molar teeth determined that the growth of hydroxylapatite crystallites is a direct and predictable function of the applied temperature, which follows a nonlinear logistic relationship. This will allow the forensic investigator to acquire useful information about the equilibrium temperature brought about by the burning process and to suggest a reasonable duration of fire exposure.KEYWORDS: forensic science, cremated remains, burned bones and teeth, hydroxylapatite, powder X-ray diffraction, forensic anthropology The study of burned human remains is of considerable importance in forensic science, forensic anthropology, and crime scene investigation. An understanding of the changes that the body has undergone as a result of burning can provide significant information regarding the context and conditions of the burning event itself. Such crime scene information can include the temperature of the fire, the position of the fire, and the presence of accelerants. Unfortunately, the act of burning also causes a number of substantial changes to occur within the skeleton, which in turn can affect attempts to provide an identification of the deceased. Research has shown that both morphological and metric methods of anthropological assessment are affected (1,2), in addition to methods of dating (3) and stable isotopic analysis (4) (an analytical technique of increasing importance in the forensic field). Extracting this contextual information from the remains, in addition to determining the level of anthropological inaccuracy created by the burning event, is dependent upon being able to determine whether the skeletal remains have indeed been burned. Beyond this, one needs to be able to correlate the changes in the skeleton to this contextual information with confidence. Traditionally, a visual inspection of the remains has been used to suggest whether the bones have been subjected to fire (5-7), and beyond this, associations have been made between bone color and fracturing with fire temperature and presence of soft tissues (8,9). However, this can be complicated, and the links spurious. Furthermore, it has also been shown both experimentally and statistically that the most important changes in bone that can predict burning context involve changes within the skeletal microstructure (10). With all this in mind, it has been argued that a better and more reliable means of addressing these issues is with the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) approach, possibly combined with other types of microscopic approaches (11),...

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